That was Interesting!
Leaving my apartment at around 4:00 a got to Daley Plaza at 4:45 and it was empty. Maybe 10 or 15 bikes were there. I took Halsted to Taylor and then Taylor to Jefferson and then Jefferson to Washington. I haven't really found an easy way to get downtown during rush hour.
The Plaza slowly filled and by 6:00 we had maybe 1500 people. It was definely less crowded than last month! Around 6:10 the horns started and people slowly rode out onto the street. We rode three times around the plaza and then finally west down Randolph. This ride was on a much faster pace. I was averaging over 10 miles an hour. We turned off Randolph onto La Salle and headed north over the bridge. La Salle to Division and then west on Division. When we got to the Division Street bridge, just west of Halsted we encountered our first obstcale.
The bridge was still under construction and we slowly went over the bridge with the police blocking the traffic to the west of the bridge. We took Division to Elston and then diagonally southwest to Milwaukee Ave. We proceded down Milwaukee to it's end at Desplaines and then Desplaines to Adams, Adams to Halsted, Halsted to Taylor and Taylor to Canal.
We took Canal to 18th street and 18th back to Halsted. Halsted to Archer and Archer to Ashland. The mass was pretty long and broken up by this time by the fast riding. We turned down Ashland to 35th and then 35th to Morgan. We procedded down Morgan to 31st and then all hell broke loose!
Some sort of police activity was happening with around ten squads infront of Brideport Homes. I couldn't find any info out of any news agency as far as what was going on but it disrupted the mass. The part of the mass I was in broke apart and I took Keely to Lyman and then Lyman to Throop to 29th and 29th to Halsted. Halsted to 33rd. I stopped at my place, trying decide if I was going to end the ride or continue. I saw it was 7:47 so I decided to continue on. Since we were meeting at the 31st street beach, I continued north on Wallace to 31st and then straight east on 31st. Once I passed King Drive, a group of about 10-15 riders were behind me and as a group we were the first to arrive on the beach. I really didn't find out were they came from :) Ten minutes later the rest of the mass began to show up. I do know that the Mass stayed on 35th street and I guessing they took 35th to King Drive, and King Drive to 31st.
I hung around for about a half hour chatting with an older gent with a tricyle who also lives in Bridgeport. I then headed back home along 31st and then Wallace, got home a just about 9:00pm. All and all not a bad ride :)
2 comments:
Nice series of photos. I here this Critical Mass gets out of hand in San Francisco - to the point of kicking cars.
don't think it's like that here - is it?
I haven't seen any kicking of cars though I have seen verbal exchanges. There is a group,and I'm sure in SF it's a large group, who believe that the time for cars is over. It's these kind of people that gives Critical Mass a bad rap. A lot of riders are just out to have a fun ride.
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